Inflow & Public Education Committee

This municipal water quality educational material was sponsored by the Public Municipal Water Quality Education Committee of the Public Educational Information Pennsylvania Water Environment Association (PWEA). PWEA is a Member Association of the Water Environment Federation (WEF).

Please visit our Public Education Toolbox on PWEA’s website for other public educational material for the municipal water quality industry. PO Box 3367 Gettysburg, PA 17325 www.pwea.org www.pwea.org Inflow & Infiltration

“I&I” is a short acronym for a huge problem most sewer communities face, Inflow and Infiltration. Inflow occurs when rainwater is misdirected into the system instead of storm sewers. Examples are: roof leaders, footer drains, sump pumps, covers, and cross connections from storm drains. The remedy for inflow is to remove improper connections to the sanitary sewer system. Infiltration occurs when ground water seeps into the sanitary The worst impact of I&I is the likelihood You, as a homeowner, can reduce I&I sewer system through cracks or that the can overflow out of the from your property. leaks in sewer pipes. The cracks sewer and into our environment. This • Check that gutters and outside drains or leaks may be caused by age yucky, gross runoff of untreated sewage, are not connected to sanitary sewers. related deterioration, loose joints, contaminated with fecal matter, urine, and • Avoid planting trees and shrubs over damage or root infiltration. The toilet paper, is often referred to as SSO building sewers. The roots can remedy for infiltration is repairing (Sanitary Sewer Overflow). I&I takes up damage the structure of the sewer or replacing the leaking valuable capacity in the wastewater pipe and cause leaks. infrastructure. Ignored I&I results treatment plant and may limit future sewer • Keep caps on your cleanouts. Lawn in excessive flows in the sewers connections. I&I adversely affects the and into the wastewater treatment mowers have a tendency to break the nutrient loadings for the plant discharge. plastic caps. Replacement lids are plant. This becomes a very costly If ignored, I&I can cost your community problem for all of us. I&I affects available at your local hardware store. many millions of dollars. • the quantity of wastewater that Ensure that basement drains and needs to be treated, the capacity sump pumps are not connected to the of your community’s sewer pipes, sanitary sewer. wastewater treatment plant and • Replace any known broken, leaky or ultimately, the rates that we pay to problem sections of sewer pipe that operate and maintain them. are located on your property.